Closure latch



April 1 6, 1968 s. F. BURNS ETAL CLOSURE LATCH Filed Sept. 28, 1966 INVENTORS fies)?! i Z3111? 657% //Z aaman ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,378,295 CLOSURE LATCH Sylvester F. Burns, Rochester, and Lester M. Goeman,

Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich, assignors to GeneralMotors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 582,653 4 Claims. (Cl. 292-280) This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle body door locks.

One feature of this invention is that it provides a vehicle body door lock having detented rotatable latch means, inside operating means for releasing the latch means, and locking means for concurrently blocking operation of the inside operating means and blocking the latch means against release by outside operating means. Another feature is that the locking means blocks the latch means against movement in one rotational direction and that movement of the latch means in an opposite rotational direction releases the locking means. A further feature is that the inside operating means includes a movable release lever andthe locking means includes a locking lever movable transversely of the release lever and having a portion interlocking with a portion of the release lever to block movement thereof.

These and other features of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational view of a vehicle embodying a door lock according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged partially broken away View taken generally along the plane indicated by line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken the plane indicated by line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1, a vehicle body includes a front door 12 which is hinged at its forward edge 14 to the body 10 for swinging movement between a closed position, as shown, and an open position, not shown, to provide access to the interior of the passenger compartment of the body. The door 12 is held in closed position by a door lock 16 according to this invention.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the door lock 16 includes a frame or support 18 having a plate portion 20 and a plate portion 22 located generally normal to the plate portion 20. The plate portion 20 bears against the inner surface of the end wall or lock pillar 24 of the door 12 and is secured thereto by a number of bolts 26 extending into nuts 28 secured to the plate portion 20.

The outside operating means includes an operating lever 30 pivoted at 32 to the plate portion 20. The lever 30 includes an upwardly extending arm 34 provided with a lateral tab or flange 36. Flange 36 is adapted to be engaged by a push rod 38 which is part of a conventional push button type outside door handle assembly 40, FIGURE I, mounted on the outer panel of door 12. Upon depression of the push button of assembly 40, rod 38 will swing the lever 3i) counterclockwise about the pivot 32. A coil torsion spring 42 surrounds the pivot 32 and has one end thereof engaging a notched tab 44 of the plate portion 20 and the other end thereof engaging the flange 36 to bias the lever 34 clockwise about the pivot 32. The lever 30 is located against the action of the spring 42 by engagement of the arm 34 thereof with a rubber bumper covered lateral tab 46 of plate portion 20.

The lever 30 further includes an offset horizontal arm 48 which extends inwardly toward the plate portion 22 and a depending arm 50 which terminates in a foot or abutment 52.

generally along 3,378,295 Patented Apr. 16, 1968 The latch means 54 is of conventional structure and includes a gear type bolt portion 56 which extends outwardly of the plate portion 20 through a suitable opening in the wall 24. A disc portion 58 and a ratchet portion 60 are formed integrally with the bolt portion 56. The plate portion 20 is formed with an integral annular boss or housing 62 and a semi-annular housing, not shown, extends outwardly of plate portion 20 through a suitable opening in wall 24. The latch means 54 are rotatably mounted on the base wall 64 of the housing 62 and also on a similar wall of the housing which extends outwardly from the plate portion 20. The foot 52 of the lever 30 extends through an opening in housing 62 into engagement with a surface 66 of a tooth 68 of the ratchet 60 to hold the latch means 54 against clockwise rotational movement.

As is conventional, the gear type bolt portion 56 cooperates with a striker mounted on the body pillar wall opposite to wall 24 to hold the door 12 in closed position.

As best shown in FIGURE 3, a remote lever 70 is pivoted at 72 to the plate portion 22. The shorter arm of the remote lever overlies the inner end of the arm 48 of lever 30 at all times. The longer arm 74 of the remote lever is connected to one end of a shiftable rod 76. The other end of rod 76 is connected to a conventional inside remote handle 78, FIGURE 1, which is mounted on the inner panel of door 12. Upon shifting movement of the rod 76 forwardly of the body or to the left as viewed in FIG- URE 3, the lever 70 will be swung clockwise about pivot 72 and engage the arm 48 of lever 30 to thereby swing this lever counterclockwise about the pivot 32 and move the foot 52 out of engagement with the surface 66 of the tooth 68. The latch means 54 can then rotate clockwise and permit door 12 to be opened.

The locking means includes a lever 80 pivoted at 82 to the plate portion 20 and movable between a locked position, shown in full lines, and an unlocked position, shown in dash-dot lines. The lever 80 is selectively and alternately biased to either its locked or unlocked position by an overcenter type coil torsion spring 84 which is hooked between the lever 80 and the plate portion 20. When the lever 80 is in locked position, a tooth or locking portion 86 thereof extends through an opening in housing 62 into engagement with the surface 66 of the tooth 68 next to the tooth 68 engaged by the foot 52 of lever 30. This blocks clockwise rotation of the latch means 54 even if the foot 52 is moved out of engagement with the tooth 68 engaged thereby. The engagement of the tooth 86 with the surface 66 locates the lever 80 in its locked position. The lever 80 is located in its unlocked position by engagement of an arm 88 thereof with the outer surface of the housing 62, as shown.

A conventional key cylinder device 90 mounted on the outer panel of door 12 is engageable with a laterally extending bifurcated portion 92 of lever 80 to provide for moving the lever between its locked and unlocked positions from the outside of the body. The inner end of the lever 80 is attached to the lower end of a shiftable rod 94, the upper end of wich is attached to a conventional garnish button assembly 96, FIGURE 1, to provide for shifting the locking lever between its locked and unlocked positions from the inside of the body.

The arm 88 of lever 80 includes a lateral tab or locking portion 98 and the longer arm of the lever 70 includes an offset extension having a lateral tab or locking portion 100, FIGURE 3. The levers 70 and 80 swing in planes generally normal to each other. When the lever 80 is in its unlocked position, the portion 98 thereof is located out of the path of movement of portion 100 of lever 70. Therefore, the remote handle 78 can be used to swing lever 70 clockwise. The engagement of the shorter arm of lever 70 with arm 43 of lever 30 will swing lever 30 counter clockwise to move foot 52 out of engagement with the tooth 68 of the latch means 54 to release the latch means. When the lever 80 is in its locked position, the portion 98 thereof is located transversely of the portion 100 of the lever '70 so that any clockwise swinging movement of the lever 79 is blocked. Thus the remote handle cannot be used to release the latch means.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that when the locking lever is in its locked position, it blocks rotational movement of the latch means '54 in one rotational direction and also concurrently blocks any movement of the remote handle 78 and the lever 70 of the inside operating means.

The lock 16 further includes the feature of automatic undogging to prevent jamming of the lock should the door be opened and either the key cylinder device 90 or the garnish button 96 be actuated to move the locking lever 80 to its locked position. When the door is thereafter closed, the latch means 54 will rotate in a counterclockwise direction and the back or cam surface 162 of the tooth next to the tooth engaged by tooth 86 will cam the lever 86 clockwise about the pivot 82 so that the spring 84 will go overcente'r and locate the lever 80 in its unlocked -position,. This will, of course, raise the garnish button 96 but will have no effect on the key cylinder device 90.

Thus, this invention provides an improved vehicle body door lock.

We claim:

1. A closure latch comprising, in combination, support means, latch means rotatab-ly mounted on the support means and including a plurality of latching abutments, detent means mounted on the support means and having a portion thereof engageable with one of the latching abutments to block rotational movement of the latch means in one direction, outside opera-ting means for releasing the detent means, inside operating means for releasing the detent means, and locking means mounted on the support means for movement between locked and unlocked positions and including a pair of locking portions, one of said portions, when said locking means is in locked position, being engaged with another of the latching abutments of said latching means to block movement of said latching means in said one direction, the other of said locking portions being concurrently engaged with a portion of said inside operating means to block movement of said inside operating means.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein movement of said latch means in the other rotational direction moves said locking means to unlock position wherein said first and second locking portions are out of engagement with said latching abutment and said inside operating means.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein said inside operating means includes a release lever engaged with said detent vmeans to move said detent means to released position, said second locking portion being engaged with a portion of said release lever to block movement of said lever When said locking means is in locked position.

4. The combination recited in claim 3 wherein said second locking portion is located transversely of said release lever portion to block movement of said release lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,723,146 11/1955 Dingman 292-280 2,738,212 3/1956 Wise 292280 52,754,671 7/1956 Dingrnan 292-280 X 3,027,184 3/1962 'De Vito 292216 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

E. J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CLOSURE LATCH COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, SUPPORT MEANS, LATCH MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON THE SUPPORT MEANS AND INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF LATCHING ABUTMENTS, DETENT MEANS MOUNTED ON THE SUPPORT MEANS AND HAVING A PORTION THEREOF ENGAGEABLE WITH ONE OF THE LATCHING ABUTMENTS TO BLOCK ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT OF THE LATCH MEANS IN ONE DIRECTION, OUTSIDE OPERATING MEANS FOR RELEASING THE DETENT MEANS, INSIDE OPERATING MEANS FOR RELEASING THE DETENT MEANS, AND LOCKING MEANS MOUNTED ON THE SUPPORT MEANS FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN LOCKED AND UNLOCKED POSITIONS AND INCLUDING A PAIR OF LOCKING PORTIONS, ONE OF SAID 